Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has listed a number of items that parents shouldn’t buy when taking their children to Form one.
This latest announcement is a relief to parents in this harsh economic times. The CS has asked school principals to reduce the list of requirements for admission to Form one.
The 2021 KCPE candidates will report to secondary schools on May 3.
Some of the items managements of secondary schools have been demanding from students on admission and which Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha feels are unnecessary include exercise books, class readers, novels, photocopying papers, foolscaps, atlases, mathematical tables, hockey sticks, pangas, jembes slashers and hand brushes, among others.
Magoha, who spoke at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development yesterday Monday when he launched the Form One selection, said some of these items unnecessarily increase the cost of Form One admission and should therefore be omitted from the list of requirements.
“To avoid overburdening parents, I direct principals to stop listing unnecessary items,” Prof Magoha said.
The CS also directed principals to admit all students allocated to their institutions, including those who have not paid full school fees.
“The idea is to admit a Kenyan child into a Kenyan public school. At the same time, principals should exercise caution while listing the requirements for Form One students as part of the measures to reduce the cost of education,” said Magoha.
Some secondary schools have been locking out students who do not have some of the listed items. But according to the CS, some of these items, including exercise books, are listed as mandatory but are provided for by the government.
“As a ministry, we are committed to ensure parents and guardians with learners joining Form One are not overburdened with unnecessary requirements that increase the cost of education,” said Magoha.
“Stern action will be taken against school heads who deny learners the opportunity to further their education. I am instructing schools to fully adhere to fees guidelines,” he said.
He added: “Do not block children from going to the school. Let us give every child an opportunity to learn. Some of us would never have gone to school if we were treated that way.”
Magoha asked parents to only pay fees set by the ministry and to report to the nearest education office any cases where a student is turned away for not paying the extra fees some school heads charge or the other levies.
Magoha, at the same time, challenged parents and guardians to take their obligations seriously by ensuring prompt payment of school fees in boarding schools.
“I urge members of the public to report any cases of learners who fail to join Form One. We will mount a nationwide monitoring exercise to ensure Form One students join the schools they were selected to and that fee guidelines are strictly adhered to,” said the CS.
At the same time, Magoha called on well-wishers and philanthropists seeking to support children joining boarding schools to consider covering costs of non-tuition related expenses such as school uniforms and personal effects for needy students.
In this financial year alone, the CS said, Sh62 billion has been released under Free Day Secondary Education.
“We have cut the cost of secondary education by 75 per cent and even those in boarding are only required to pay money for feeding and a few other things because the capitation money is remitted,” said Magoha.
Close to 9,000 vulnerable students who sat last year’s KCPE exams will get fully-paid Elimu Scholarships for the four years of secondary education.
So far 18,000 students from poor backgrounds have benefitted from the government-sponsored scholarship programme since its launch in 2019.
What’s the criteria for selection of beneficiary to the Elimu scholarship?
Thanks mr cs we are proud of you…am one of those parent waiting our children to join form 1
The Cs has done a commendable job that students shouldn’t, be turned away.let the principals obey that and the learning of our students will be okeyed.yongongo
Nice
Unsung hero for the oppressed..keep it up bwana cs
For issue of items that students go with eg readers and others why tell parents not to buy . Mahogany if u want to help parent tell them not to pay even acoin stop cheating us education is free and our kids today tomorrow and the day after are being sent home # refuce fee#
These bans are just PR.
The CS or his officers are well aware that parents are forced to buy these things every term, and they have done nothing.
Every beginning of the term, parents are forced to provide photocopying papers, etc, even in big and well known schools.
Even extra tuition and other levies were banned long time, but the principals have continued forcing parents to pay. To date, I cannot collect my son’s results because I did not pay teacher motivation levies to the school through a secrete account belonging to a nearby church.
Where has the CS been?Many students cannot be cleared or even given result slips by schools simply because they have not cleared these illegal levies.
Bwana CS, we need action the way CS Matiangi used to enforce his directives.
Just rhetorical declarations do not help parents.
Hope it is words with action
Am wondering what this readers are???? Very funny list of items I see
We need education ombudsman office established
We need education ombudsman office established
A STITCH IN TIME THAT DOESN’T SAVE NINE
Mr CS little did you know that you’re cascading principals to charge supernormal levies. You’d better remained tight-lipped things would have behaved normally.
But with this announcement perceived by principals as the apex money minting.
Therefore Mr CS, let’s all live to see 3rd May. There expect informal levies to treble, size of form one shopping basket to treble, etc
Take a look.
Thanks CS
The Gvt should take care of all the school going children regardless of their social status, only the needy students. This act of segregation should stop and assistance should be extended to learners in private institutions so long as they sat for the examintion administered by the gvt of Kenya. I strongly feel that the system is inadequate to prove neediness of learners…
Segregation of private and public schools students not good every hard working student should be rewarded by any form of assistance available
Great mind from our CS. This has taken and costed parents for quite a long time. My only fear now is that they will not ask for the listed items but they will change tactics and ask for other items. A cartel of principals have been sourcing parents admitting and mediately after call on the new parents and then add them monies in the name of projects ongoing that are never completed. Please address on such issues coz this is where most parents especially in boardings get their children going home every weekend in the name of fees. Keep up our valuable CS.
The govt should then buy these items for schools. How do you expect a boarding school to be clean without these things? How is the principal going to pay food suppliers if students report without fees? There’s a lot of PR done by cs but even when the principals charge he can’t ask them because he knows the government hasn’t remitted any funds to schools.
Give us a complaint direct line to call you for any violation of these your orders..because I know they won’t be adhered to..thanks
Good. move but only God knows how long the suffering will be.
Problem with Kenyan’s is that they can’t agree and Appreciate any good gesture this culture is just bad
Leadership has this.
Am so sad right now because even with this statement the down loaded letter of the school your child has been called to,has the list of those items hockey stick and volleyball, also they are including monies for a dorm that was built by cdf money and launched by area mp, and yet all this was in that list as a requirement. Did they not see it or what is going on ,also they say they want to outsource all item’s from one person because us as parents may not buy the exact colour they want,then they double or triple the price really will our kids go to school esp now that most of us were hit by the situations of the corona and closed our businesses. Please help us
If there is no free education this won’t happen too. These items are too petty may be you emphasis on free education the you would assist parents rather than doing away with the items you listed.
busy body